Bolles

Joseph Bolles, the immigrant, BOLLES came from Osberton, Nottinghamshire, England, to Winter Harbor, near the mouth of the Saco river, in Maine, about 1640, and afterwards settled in Wells, Maine. He belonged to one of the few armorial families represented in New England, of whom it is estimated there are less than fifty. In 1665 John Bolles, of Clerkenwell, Middlesex, England, making his will, bequeathed to “my brother Joseph Bolles, living in New England.” The family arms are: “Azure out of three cups or, as many boars’ heads couped argent.” On June 21, 1664, Joseph Bolles was appointed by Ferdinando Gorges one of the thirteen men in York county, who were to be “my Deputies and Commissioners for the Government of the sd. Province.” Bolles appears as commissioner in various legal documents in 1651, 1655, 1658, 1659, 1661 and 1662. He was appointed in 1653, “clerk of the writs” of the town of Wells. By the burning of his house in 1657, a large volume

of town records were destroyed. In 1655 he assisted in “running the line” between the towns of Wells and Kittery. His will is dated September 18, 1678, and was presented for probate in November, 1678. He mentioned Mary, his wife, eldest son Thomas, son Samuel, daughter Frost, daughter Becke, daughter Locke and daughter Mercy. The inventory of his estate was 842 pounds, one shilling, six pence. He married Mary Howells, born in March, 1624, daughter of Morgan Howells, of Cape Porpoise, Maine. She was living at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1684. Children: Mary, born August 7, 1641, married Charles Frost; Thomas, December I, 1644, settled at New London, Connecticut; Samuel, mentioned below; Hannah, November 25, 1649; Elizabeth, January 15, 1652, married Locke; Joseph, March 15, 1654. married Mary Call; Sarah, January 20, 1657; Mercy, August n, 1661.

From: New England families, genealogical and memorial; a record of the achievements of her people in the making of commonwealths and the founding of a nation;William Richard Cutter, New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co., 1913.